In Meix-devant-Virton, two thousand eight hundred inhabitants, in the province of Belgian Luxembourg, the mayor, Pascal François, scratches his head. What will happen to its twinning with Guérigny, in Nièvre, where the National Rally (RN) won 42.17% of the vote on June 9? “Here, the extreme right, we know what it’s worth and we don’t want it, explains this socialist who has been running this village for thirty years. She recently presented a list with a guy convicted of pedophilia.” Will the former railway worker still go to France if the RN is in power tomorrow? “I don’t really know. We can’t punish everyone.”
In Meix, Virton and all the municipalities on this end of Belgium, along two invisible borders, that with the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and that with France, no mayor or town hall, but a city councilor and town halls. at the front of which the blue, white and red flag often flies. In many homes, we watch French channels more than Belgian ones and we closely follow the ups and downs of French political life. “It’s so much more exciting than back home,” say Marylène Pierre, a history and French teacher in Virton, and her daughter Zoé, a law student in Louvain-la-Neuve.
Exciting, but worrying about the future consequences of Emmanuel Macron’s choice to dissolve the National Assembly. “Morally, can a head of state do that? “, asks the professor. Deputy mayor of Tintigny, 10 kilometers from Meix, the liberal Benoît Piedboeuf is also surprised: “Of course, a French president needs a majority, but there, the game is really dangerous and could especially suit Vladimir Putin.”
In this green corner, we say we are incredulous at the threat of seeing another founding country of the European Union shift to the extreme right. “Many of my fellow citizens ask me: “Macron, what has gotten into him?” explains Vincent Wauthoz, the liberal mayor of Virton. He knows France better than me, but did he choose his moment well to confront voters with their responsibilities? » However, it is for Eric Ciotti, the president of the Republicans, who advocates an alliance with the RN, that this right-wing elected official reserves his arrows: “He betrayed both de Gaulle and his country, like Pétain.”
Exclude the far right from majorities
On the evening of June 9, while the Belgians had also voted for their federal and regional deputies, it was the speech of the French president that the Virtonais awaited. In front of the bar Chez Neuch, two students who wished to remain anonymous joked: “The Belgians are world champions of political crises and quarrels between Flemish and Walloons? I think our French friends are well on their way to beating us. »
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